Using as a springsoard the “shocking treatment of the Jews in Germany and Austria,” the New York Times declares in its leading editorial today that anti-Semitism is “an attempt to conquer democratic civilization by dividing its forces.”

After analyzing relations between Jews and Christians historically, religiously and culturally and finding no essential differences or antagonisms between the two groups, the editorial asserts:

“The attack upon the Jew, therefore, cannot be treated as merely an attack upon a given religion or a given race. It is an attempt to conquer democratic civilization by dividing its forces. The Jew, as an identifiable mark, is the first to suffer. Anti-Semitism has always been the first weapon of tyranny and reaction — the first simply because it is the handiest. But it is never a final step. The freedom and security of the Jew are inextricably united with the freedom and security of his Gentile brother. When the Jew is persecuted, there is no longer any safety for freedom, tolerance or intelligence among the members of any race or the adherents of any faith.

“If we value these things the Jew need not ask to be defended as a Jew, nor will the sympathies of democratic and liberal people go out to him on that score. He should not regard himself nor be regarded as a martyr set aside from the rest of humanity. He stands out only because he has been selected to bear the brunt of an assault upon all free men everywhere. His identification as a Jew is of small importance compared with his identification as one of a great company of men of all faiths and all races who will not forever brook the arrogance of dictators and the stupidity and brutality of their uniformed lackeys.

“Tyranny sets men apart but freedom unites them. In our day’s mighty struggle there are no Jews and no Gentiles. There are only those who love freedom and those who do not.”